The National Quartet Convention begins tonight in Louisville, KY, and for the first time in many years I will not be in the audience. For many years my wife and I held permanent seats for all six nights of the convention, but we decided this year not to renew our tickets. There are a number of reasons. My wife's hours at work have changed. Last year she only got to attend two nights with me. Gasoline prices impacted our decision. We live about 90 minutes from the convention hall and drove back and forth each night. That would have been expensive this year. The cost of the tickets is reasonable, but when they are added to meal and fuel prices it became an expensive week. Finally, we just didn't think the talent is there to justify spending six nights at the convention.
A number of groups have retired over the past few years and others have left Southern Gospel music for various reasons. Some of the top groups change their members so often that you never know who will be singing with a group from one year to the next. You typically won't hear your favorite groups for more than 20 minutes a night. Frankly, I wasn't impressed with a lot of the newer songs last year, and I haven't heard too many new ones this year that are much better. I just feel that the talent has been going downhill for the past few years causing me to lose interest in spending all week at the convention.
I am glad that Gaither and Signature Sound will return this year after being absent for the past few years. I've never been clear why they haven't been there, but I understand there was some fighting between Gaither and NQC over various matters. Now, there's a good Christian witness! I don't know if the fighting has been resolved, or if they've just decided to bury the hatchet for financial reasons.
I have tried not to complain too much in this blog, but since I'm on a roll let me mention one more thing about the NQC that has become a turn-off. The merchant displays have become a flea market. I think every group at the NQC should have a display area to sell their merchandise. It's a great opportunity for their fans to meet the groups and purchase their material. But a lot of the other junk in there should not be allowed. I'm sure the NQC profits from each of the booths, but selling ugly ties and cheap jewelry adds nothing to the convention, and in my opinion cheapens the whole experience.
Is it possible that people would give similar reasons for not attending church as often as they once did? Are people staying away from our churches because they simply do not believe there is value in attending? Are they avoiding the power plays that occur in some of our churches? Are they staying away because of the quality of the music, the messages, or the overall worship experience? I know several people who have left churches they attended for many years for such reasons. Some found other churches to attend while others just dropped out of church completely.
Some would argue that people should not attend church because of what they receive from it, but that arguement is not going to fly today. Why would someone want to attend a worship service in which they will not be able to experience worship? I have visited too many churches that I don't ever want to return to because of the worship experience.
We need to look at our churches and determine if we are attracting people or turning they away. We need to examine everything we are doing: our worship, our programming, our sermons, our service times, our outreach and see if each of these are attracting people to our churches, and even more importantly, to Jesus Christ. If any of these things are barriers that are keeping people from Christ and the church then changes need to be made.
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